Tutorial #2 Wiki Question:
Choose a country on the map 'Design for the Other 90%' at **http://other90.cooperhewitt.org/** and read through the description of the products designed for each country.
1. Which product interests you the most, and why? (200 words)
Most products showcased in the article ‘Design for the Other 90%’ are interesting and useful in their own ways, but the one product that caught my eye and interested me the most was the concept of One Laptop per Child, the brain child of Nicholas Negroponte. While most other products were innovative, they weren’t exactly high-tech per say, such as this laptop is. What is interesting is that these laptops cost only a fraction of what a real laptop costs, only $100, something which is not readily available or affordable for the people of a developing nation. This laptop is trying to bridge the gap of poverty by helping the children in their education, it is being used as an educational tool to bring learning information and communication to children in a third world nation. The governments of these nations purchase these directly from non-profit organizations, who bind together cutting-edge technologies and distribute them on an unmatched scale. Just the idea of a laptop trying to help bridge the education gap between nations is quite intriguing. Not only is this product providing an important tool in tackling the gap in education, it is cheap and affordable for these poor countries.
2. Which category would interest you to research further for your group project, and why? (100 words)
The category that interests me for the research project is the field of Education in a developing nation. Education in a developed nation is a given, anyone or anybody can enroll and can get a stellar schooling if they wish to do so. But in a developing nation, this picture is quite different as lots of factors affect the outcome. Not every child can get an education, as sometimes they cannot afford it, or sometimes education is not even an option as they need to help out their parents at home. So, I would like to further research on this topic and find out what it is like and what they end up doing if they get an education in schooling as a child, how they help their developing nation with their education and help them prosper from moving their country to be a developed nation.
Choose a country on the map 'Design for the Other 90%' at **http://other90.cooperhewitt.org/** and read through the description of the products designed for each country.
1. Which product interests you the most, and why? (200 words)
Most products showcased in the article ‘Design for the Other 90%’ are interesting and useful in their own ways, but the one product that caught my eye and interested me the most was the concept of One Laptop per Child, the brain child of Nicholas Negroponte. While most other products were innovative, they weren’t exactly high-tech per say, such as this laptop is. What is interesting is that these laptops cost only a fraction of what a real laptop costs, only $100, something which is not readily available or affordable for the people of a developing nation. This laptop is trying to bridge the gap of poverty by helping the children in their education, it is being used as an educational tool to bring learning information and communication to children in a third world nation. The governments of these nations purchase these directly from non-profit organizations, who bind together cutting-edge technologies and distribute them on an unmatched scale. Just the idea of a laptop trying to help bridge the education gap between nations is quite intriguing. Not only is this product providing an important tool in tackling the gap in education, it is cheap and affordable for these poor countries.
2. Which category would interest you to research further for your group project, and why? (100 words)
The category that interests me for the research project is the field of Education in a developing nation. Education in a developed nation is a given, anyone or anybody can enroll and can get a stellar schooling if they wish to do so. But in a developing nation, this picture is quite different as lots of factors affect the outcome. Not every child can get an education, as sometimes they cannot afford it, or sometimes education is not even an option as they need to help out their parents at home. So, I would like to further research on this topic and find out what it is like and what they end up doing if they get an education in schooling as a child, how they help their developing nation with their education and help them prosper from moving their country to be a developed nation.